Shaina

What do you love about doing hair and why?Doing hair gives me the opportunity to help my clients become the best version of themselves. I believe we all already have that person inside and sometime just need a little help finding it.

What are some of your specialties?I love texturizing. Having thick hair myself, I know how important it is to have hair that looks great AND feels amazing. I’m also in love with short cuts, undercuts and carving, anything unique or a little crazy, and dreads!

What's your secret weapon for great hairListening. When I’m doing someone’s hair, it’s important to me to understand who they are so I can help them match their external appearance to who they are inside.

What are your hair style influences?I'm an intuitive and tactile cutter, so I pay close attention to how well a haircut suits a person’s face as well as the overall look. Texture is also a big influence, both in terms of what I can create through cutting and color and the styling products I use.

What inspires you as a hairstylist?Anything and everything. I love watching other hairstylists and thinking through what they want to achieve and how they’re doing it. I'm also a sucker for new texturizing techniques and always trying to create the perfect silver hair color.

What's your approach with new clients?Meeting with a new client is a little like speed dating—I have a certain amount of time to charm them enough that they want to stick around. In all seriousness, my approach with clients new and old involves asking a lot of questions so that we both understand the look they want and how we’ll get there.

What's the best hair advice you've ever been given?Love each client enough that they can't think of going anywhere else to get their hair done. -Gary Howse.

What inspired you to become a hairstylist?I’d known I wanted a career in hair for a long time but becoming a client of VAIN’s own Carly gave me that last push I needed. Up to that point, I’d had a long history of bad hairstylists and equally bad haircuts. With Carly, it was immediately different—she asked questions that helped us both understand exactly what I wanted. I strive to make my clients feel the way I feel when I’m in her chair.

Tell us about your education and professional experience.I started out doing hair for family and friends when I was young. Many a Thanksgiving was spent giving box perms to my aunt Jackie and frosted tips to my cousins. After years of experimenting on my friends and myself, I decided to make a career of it.

In March 2014 I started at the Gary Manuel Aveda Institute and graduated just over a year later. While I was there, I was also student council president, a member of the editorial team, and one of the two PR team members. I’ve done hair for a wide range of events, including Seattle Rocks the Runway, Bellevue Fashion Week, and Steamposium.

I started at Vain in July 2015 and am thrilled to be building my career here.

Life/interests outside of VAIN?I have a wonderful fiancée named Rose, who’s also an amazing hairstylist and my colorist, and two very spoiled puppies named Aiden and Seven. I love learning and have way too many hobbies but in what little downtime I have, I’m usually playing video games to destress or making music. I’ve been playing in bands for ages and I love singing, playing guitar, and performing. I'm also an avid runner and love crazy mud runs.